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Mai Chen
Founding Partner
Mai Chen is a founding partner of Chen Palmer NZPLS, Barristers and Solicitors, Australasia’s first public law specialist firm, which she co-founded in 1994.
Susan Hornsby-Geluk
Partner
Susan is a specialist employment lawyer with over 18 years experience in the area – during this time she has established a reputation for being a creative strategist and a tenacious advocate for her clients.
Nick Russell
Principal - Litigation
Nick Russell has practised law since 1997 and has a LLB(Hons) from the University of Auckland. He is an experienced public law litigator who has…
Blair Scotland
Senior Associate
Blair has an LLM (Hons) and a BA (Criminology) from Victoria University. He was admitted to the Bar in 1997 and has significant employment law experience. He has most recently worked as a Senior Associate in the legal team of the Employers' Chamber of Commerce Central (formerly EMA Central) for six years. Prior to that Blair had an employment law role with Telecom New Zealand Limited.
Nicholai Anderson
Senior Associate
Nicholai Anderson has an LLM (with first class honours) from Victoria University and an LLB from Canterbury University. He has held a number of different positions in an eight year stint at the Ministry of Justice and his breadth of experience gives him invaluable inside knowledge of the workings of the Judicial, Executive and Legislative branches of government.
Marina Matthews
Senior Associate and Team Leader Education
Marina Matthews was appointed as an Intermediate Associate at Chen Palmer but has been promoted to Senior Associate with effect from 1 March 2012. Marina heads the firm's Education team and co-leads the Working with Government team. Marina is highly experienced in public policy and parliamentary processes. She has been a specialist advisor to several Education Ministers in Parliament. Marina has been involved in a range of public policy processes including the drafting of cabinet papers, working on legislation, providing reports and presentations to Select Committees, working with the Official Information Act, and working with the Office of the Auditor General and Ombudsman.
Tania Winslade
Intermediate Associate and Team Leader Māori Legal
Tania has worked as a commercial litigator for a large international law firm in London for the past five and a half years. She has a broad range of experience.
James Dunne
Intermediate Associate
James has valuable inside knowledge of how Parliament works in New Zealand. He has an LLB and a BA (History) from Victoria University, and has worked at…
Kate Pullar
Intermediate Associate
Kate Pullar joined the Chen Palmer team in November 2011 after working for six years at Parliament, most recently as a Ministerial Advisor to a senior Cabinet Minister.
Megan Vant
Associate
Megan has first class LLM and LLB (Hons) degrees and a BA in Political Science from the University of Waikato. She was admitted to the Bar in 2009.
Kate Yesberg
Associate
Kate has recently completed LLB(Hons)/BA (Anthropology). During her time at university she was a tutor of both law and anthropology and a research assistant.
Jason Cooper
Associate
Jason has an LLB/BA (Political Science and Psychology) from the University of Canterbury. In his final year of university, Jason won the Buddle Findlay Negotiation Competition and went on to represent New Zealand at the International Negotiation Competition in Chicago.
Amanda Hyde
Associate
Amanda has an LLB/BA (French and Spanish) from Victoria University. Before joining Chen Palmer, she worked at the Ministry of Justice – firstly in the Foreshore and Seabed Unit, then in 2009 she joined the legal team as in-house counsel.
Pratima Namasivayam
Associate
Pratima has a BHsc from the University of Auckland, LLB from Victoria University of Wellington and a Postgraduate Certificate in Public Health from the University of Otago. She is currently completing an LLM at Victoria University of Wellington.
Conrad Reyners
Law Clerk
Conrad Reyners has joined Chen Palmer New Zealand Public and Employment Law Specialists as a law clerk. He has just completed a Bachelor of Laws (specialising in public law). He has already completed a first-class honours in International Relations, and a BA majoring in politics.
Ashiq Hamid
Law Clerk
Ashiq joined the Chen Palmer Public Law Team after completing his Bachelor of Laws (Hons) at the University of Waikato.
Prior to studying law at Waikato, Ashiq completed a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Melbourne, majoring in cell biology and biotechnology.
Jack Oliver-Hood
Summer Clerk
Jack is a third year LLB(Hons) student at the University of Auckland, and has come down to Wellington to join the Chen Palmer team as a summer clerk over the summer of 2011.
Denise O'Connor
Admin Support
Denise provides day-to-day administrative support for Chen Palmer lawyers.
Esther Lawrence
Admin Support
Esther provides day-to-day administrative support for Chen Palmer lawyers.
Lisa Martin
Financial Controller
Lisa Martin manages the financial administration and accounting software for our business. Fundamentally she ensures our debtors keep…
Socrates
Company mascot
Socrates is an extremely friendly but very hungry dog. She loves scratches behind her ears and anything edible.
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Work at Chen Palmer
Working at Chen Palmer is an opportunity like no other to work on the cutting edge of public law. We produce the best advice and we hire the best lawyers. But we take care of our staff – we know that they are our strength. From time to time, we’ll advertise specific vacancies in this space.